


Our Private World War

by Ironlawyer



Category: Marvel 616, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Coercion, Hurt Tony Stark, M/M, Mind Control, World War Hulk, arena fighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 17:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11673348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ironlawyer/pseuds/Ironlawyer
Summary: When the Hulk is out for revenge, Steve and Tony are captured and controlled with obedience disks and matters only get worse when they are forced to fight each other in the arena.





	Our Private World War

**Author's Note:**

> For bingo square 'arena'.
> 
> World War Hulk AU where Steve is still alive.

When the guard comes dragging an unconscious Steve, Tony closes his eyes and his whole body sags back against the wall like a limp ragdoll. They tie Steve up on the other side of the room, too far to touch but close enough to see the blood on his chest and face. Tony tugs on his chains and a sharp pain radiates from the obedience disk until his arms and legs are too numb to try any more. He lies on the floor and watches them locking the manacles in place. ‘What did you do to him?’ Tony asks through gritted teeth.

The guard clips the last of Steve’s chains in place and finally acknowledges Tony. ‘Quiet, human scum.’ Tony wants to say something more, but it’s not a fight worth getting shocked for and he needs to save his strength for one he can win. When the guard leaves, he tries calling Steve a few times, but he’s out cold so all he can do is wait. 

Effectively alone again, Tony thinks of trying to contact Dugan again, but with Steve lying unconscious only feet away, it seems almost profane to talk of such things in his presence. He’s glad he already spoke to Dugan, because as much as it was necessary, he doesn’t know if he could do it with Steve around to lecture him.

Sometime later Steve beings to stir. He groans and writhes and Tony wonders if he’s in pain. The disk shouldn’t be active when he’s barely even conscious, but it’s Steve, fighting is in his blood, and maybe somehow he’s fighting even now.

‘Steve? Steve, wake up.’ There’s a pinched pain in his chest like the disk is warning him that even this is pushing it. Steve mumbles something incoherent and Tony shuffles as close as his chains will let him. ‘Hey, Steve, it’s Tony. Come on, wake up.’

Steve’s eyes flutter open, he gasps, pushes himself up and leans against the wall. ‘Tony? You okay?’ Because of course that’d be Steve’s first question. Even when he’s clearly been through the wars himself, he can’t stop caring. Tony wonders how he does it.

‘About as good as you are, I’d think.’

Steve reaches for the obedience disk and rubs at it. He scratches at the skin around it, twists it and tugs it. Tony almost asks him to stop, but he remembers how it felt to have a piece of shrapnel in his chest for the first time and thinks better of it. ‘So, where are we?’ Steve asks when he’s finally given up on the disk.

Tony shrugs. ‘Still in Manhattan. I guess this is the Hulk’s base of operations.’

‘Any plans?’

Tony shakes his head. ‘These things,’ he gestures to the obedience disk, ‘keep you from fighting them. I’m trying to crack it, but I don’t know if I can.’ It hurts to talk about, like even this little act of defiance is being punished. They must’ve known how hard it would be for them to conspire. Leaving them together is just another way to demonstrate their helplessness.

‘Do you know what he wants?’

Tony shrugs. ‘Revenge, maybe? This is the Hulk we’re talking about. Who knows.’

There is nothing left worth suffering to say, so they stay silent. Time passes and they’re left alone, but eventually the guards come back. They detach Steve’s shackles from the wall and drag him to his feet. When his hands are free, Steve socks one of them in the face but the guard hardly flinches then tackles Steve to the ground. ‘Human scum, I will watch you and all that you love die.’ Steve kicks and bucks but the guard is built like a wall and Steve is panting and his muscles are already trembling as he fights to overcome the pain and influence of the obedience disk. The guard hovers over Steve, passive and sneering, he doesn’t lash out and Tony thinks that is a deliberate ploy to show who’s in control. When Steve finally settles, the other guard, who until now has stood silent and unmoving, presses a button on his handheld and lightning encompasses Steve. He howls and writhes as strings of light whip out around his body. They lash out towards the guard who still pins Steve to the floor, but they never touch his skin, it’s like he’s coated in rubber.

Tony yanks on his chains until it feels like his wrists are going to snap. ‘Why are you doing this?’ he cries. ‘He’d stopped fighting.’ But the guards pay no notice. Steve’s eyes close and the screaming stops but his limbs still thrash until the guard turns of shocker off. They drag Steve to his feet and between them they carry him away.

When they come for Tony he decides that it’s more use to reserve his energy and become familiar with his surroundings, so even though he wants to fight like Steve did, he doesn’t, he drags his heels and keeps his eyes open and fights in his own way.

They take him to some kind of gladiatorial coliseum. There’s a crowd of onlookers, both human and Sakaaran and they cheer wildly as Tony steps into view, but it’s not the kind of cheering Ironman is used to, it’s a frenzied buzz of hollers and catcalls. The air is humid and stagnant with the smell of a thousand unwashed warriors and Tony can feel a headache brewing already. Steve, Reed and a number of other heroes are restrained by the obedience disks in a pit by the side of the arena and the guards drag Tony over to join them.

‘Here,’ says the Hulk, ‘we have earth’s best _heroes_ ,’ he spits the word like he’s swearing, ‘murders, savages, liars and cheats.’ He gestures to the pit they’ve gathered them in. ‘You took away our loved ones, and now you shall take your own.’ The crowd cheers. Hulk points to Tony and then to Steve and two guards grab them and throw them over the wall and into the arena.

‘You will fight until one of you is dead.’

Steve stands strong and his arm comes up as if he forgets he’s not holding the shield. ‘You coward,’ he says. ‘If you want us dead, do it yourself.’

‘I don’t want you dead, I want you to suffer like I have. No more talk. Now you fight.’

‘And if we refuse?’

The Hulk laughs. ‘You can’t.’

Tony sees the shock of blue electricity engulf Steve before he feels it himself. He sees Steve collapse, the light flickering around him like a broken electric line. Then it hits him too and he falls to the floor before his mind can process what’s happening. It crackles through his veins and pops in his ears, his muscles contract and spasm like a puppeteer is pulling tight on his strings and jerking him around. He thinks he hears screaming, but he’s not sure if it’s him or Steve or just the hiss of the electricity. And then it’s over and he’s lying in the dirt panting and twitching as his muscles loosen up again.

From the corner of his eye, Tony sees Steve struggling to his feet. He tries to copy him but his muscles are still beyond his control. It’s a result of the Super Soldier Serum, he tells himself and tries not to wonder why Extremis can’t compare. But it’s more than that, of course, Steve is made of pure determination so of course he can fight this. It’s not reasonable to expect the same of himself.

‘Tony?’ Steve staggers closer, concern written all over his face, like he hasn’t just experienced the exact same pain. Tony manages to roll over so his face is no longer pressed against the dirt and grunts something that sounds vaguely like, ‘Okay’.

Steve turns to the Hulk and looks like he wants to say something obstinate but he must feel the pull to fight now, because Tony can and whatever Steve was going to say turns into a hiss and he lurches like he’s just been burned.

‘Let it begin,’ Hulk cries and the crowd cheers. A hatch flings open on the other side of the arena and an avalanche of primitive weaponry tumbles out. Swords, hatchets, pipes and maces, everything clearly chosen for maximum brutality and nothing remotely in Tony’s expertise, and Tony wonders if that’s the point. A fair fight in name only.

Steve throws himself to his knees, his hands clenching in the dirt and his sharp breathing punctuated by hisses of pain. Tony feels it too, the compulsion building, a tightness in his chest sluggishly radiating, his fingers clenching when he tells them not to, it’s like a magnet drawing him towards the weapons. 

‘No, no, I won’t,’ he hears Steve muttering and sees the sweat dripping down his face but even as he’s saying it his body is beginning to move.

‘Steve!’ Tony means to break him out of it, but instead it’s like a starting gun goes off; he finds himself moving towards the weapons and Steve follows his lead. Steve is faster and closer and at the weapons before Tony is halfway across the arena. There’s a round scrap of steel that could almost pass for a facsimile of Cap’s shield and he knows Steve sees it because his eyes linger and his fingers twitch, but he grabs a sword and turns his back to the weapons.

Tony freezes and Steve holds his free hand up, the other clutches the sword ready to strike. ‘Please, Tony, just stay away.’ So Tony does. They circle each other, Steve drifting away from the weapons as Tony drifts closer. He wonders how the disks work because Steve is not that stupid and if they can find these little loopholes maybe with enough time they can find a big one.

Tony is in reaching distance of the weapons now and everyone can see it, the crowd is jeering and Steve is tense and sweating. ‘Tony,’ he says in a clipped, tight voice, ‘I can’t.’ And then he charges. 

Tony dives for the shield and brings it up just as Steve’s sword would’ve clashed with his face. His forearm take the brunt of the blow and a shockwave rattles down his arm reminding him of just how strong Steve is and how vulnerable he is without the suit. Steve swings again and Tony deflect the blow, but already his arm is aching and the shield is dented.

‘Dammit, Tony get out of the way.’ 

Steve swings again and Tony sidesteps this time, but Steve is straight into another strike like he already knew what Tony was going to do, and Tony supposes he did, since he was dumb enough to follow his instructions. Barely dodged blow strings with barely blocked blow and eventually Tony realises that Steve is surprisingly good at this and he wonders if he’s ever taken lessons or if he’s just naturally good at everything he does. Steve lunges and Tony whips his head back just in time. The sword whooshes past nicking his ear and leaving a trail of blood along the side of his face. 

‘Tony!’

‘I’m okay.’

‘You’re bleeding.’ Steve has seen him with infinitely worse wounds over the years but this time he sounds scared.

‘It’s nothing. I’ll heal. I’m fine.’

‘I can’t do this.’

‘It’s not your fault.’ Because he’s beginning to realise he won’t come out of this alive, and Steve needs to know that.

Steve strikes again and it’s slower this time but Tony’s bare feet catch on rubble and he staggers. He falls to one knee and raises the shield, but his arms are shaky and as the sword bashes against the shield like a sledgehammer, Tony realises he can’t keep this up. ‘Fight back. Fight back. Fight back.’ Steve says it like a mantra, like he doesn’t realise it’s all Tony can do to stay alive right now.

The sword clashes with the shield once more and Tony hears the bone in his arm cracking before he feels it. His arms goes numb and the shield falls from his fingers and he collapses, gripping his arm. The crowd cheers so loud he barely hears Steve hiss, ‘No.’

‘It’s okay,’ says Tony, because Steve has to know that if Tony had to pick, it would always be this way.

‘I can’t.’ Steve is clutching his chest with one hand, the other pale and shaking around the hilt of the sword. His breathing is heavy and wheezy like an asthmatic who’s been forced to run a marathon and his eyes are pinched with pain. Tony thinks he looks like he’s having a heart attack. He can’t let that happen.

‘Steve.’ Tony drags himself to his knees and reaches for the sword with his good arm. Steve flinches but doesn’t pull it away. Tony wraps his fingers around the blade and pushes it towards his neck. His fingers become slick with blood and slide down the blade as Steve tries to hold it back, but Steve can’t fight the disk and Tony at the same time, so as Tony pushes, the blade inches closer to his neck.

When the cold steel rests against the base of his neck, touching his shoulder like he’s being knighted, he looks Steve in the eye and nods. He feels the blade wobbling as it presses in against his neck and the sting as the increasing pressure cuts his flesh. But Steve is still trying to fight it. ‘Please,’ he says, and Tony’s never heard Steve’s voice so shaken before. ‘Please, Bruce, don’t make me do this.’

Hearing Steve beg makes his stomach roll, it’s wrong, unnatural. They shouldn’t be reduced to this.

The Hulk’s voice rings out suddenly around the stadium. ‘Remember this, puny humans.’

The blade clatters to the floor and Steve falls to his hands and knees. ‘Thank you,’ Steve mumbles, ‘thank you.’ Tony can only hear because he is so close, and he wonders if Steve is thanking the Hulk or God.

Tony stumbles to his feet but all his wounds suddenly catch up with him and he staggers. His limbs feel heavy and the muscles around the obedience disk throb like a headache in his chest.

The Hulk rants a self-righteous tirade but Tony hears none of it and as the reinforcements arrive and the real battle begins, Tony finds the only thing he can think about is Steve.

\--

When the fighting is finally over, Bruce is in custody, and the Shield medics sweep in, reality finally hits. They drag everyone off to the Helicarrier, the medics pour over them and by the time they figure out how to remove the obedience disks, Tony’s wounds are fully healed. Tony’s instinct then is to go and help with clear up, but he’s so wobbly on his feet that Dugan hardly has to lecture him before he agrees to rest. He heads for one of the more private viewing decks because he knows Steve is there and he needs to see that he’s alright.  
‘Hey.’

Steve startles. ‘Tony, god, I’m so sorry.’

‘No harm done. Look,’ he shows him his ear where the nick once was and wiggles his fingers with full dexterity, ‘all healed up already.’ But Tony knows there’s more to it than that, he’s just not sure he’s ready to talk about it yet.

‘I’ve never felt so scared in my life.’ But if Steve needs to, he will.

‘You’re a good man, it wouldn’t have changed that.’ 

But Steve shakes his head.

Tony lays a hand on his shoulder and smiles at him. ‘Trust me, Steve, you are.’

‘It’s not that.’

‘Then what?’

‘I was so scared of losing you.’ And Tony doesn’t know what to say. ‘You’ve always been there and when I thought… well, I guess it made me realise how much I rely on you. How much I need you. Even when we argue you’re such an important part of my life. I don’t know how I’d cope if you weren’t around.’ Steve’s shoulder are shaking and there are unshed tears in his eyes. 

Even though he should feel something for Steve’s sorrow, all Tony feels is light and free like a hundred helium balloons have been let go in his stomach. This is where he belongs and he wonders how he never realised before.  
‘Just don’t go anywhere, okay?’ Steve says.

‘I won’t.’

**Author's Note:**

> After the grudge match the story continues much like the comic - Sentry comes in and fights off Hulk basically. Read World War Hulk #5 for the details.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Fight It Out (Private World War Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13645134) by [navaan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan)




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